6533b828fe1ef96bd1288d9f

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CD1a down-regulation in primary invasive ductal breast carcinoma may predict regional lymph node invasion and patient outcome

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Aims: CD1a is a molecule belonging to the highlyconserved group of CD1 proteins. Its expression indendritic cells is related to the presentation of tumour-derived glycolipid antigens to T cells and, consequently,the development of a successful antitumour response.The aim was to investigate the presence of CD1a+ cellsin both primary tumours and lymph nodes (LN) ofa series of 35 invasive ductal carcinomas by bothimmunohistochemistry and reverse transcription-poly-merase chain reaction.Methods and results: CD1a antigen was more expressedin N0 than N1 breast cancer (P < 0.0001) in bothprimary lesions and LN metastases and correlatedpositively and significantly with oestrogen (ER) (P =0.0025) and progesterone (P = 0.0226) receptor (PR)status, as well as CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyteinfiltration.Conclusions: This is the first report to show a linkbetween CD1a+ mononuclear cells in breast cancerand in paired LN metastases. The positive and signifi-cant correlations between the number of CD1a+ cellsand positivity of the primary tumour for ER and PRsuggest a possible role for CD1a as a prognostic markerfor breast cancer, raising the possibility that hormonereceptor-positive breast cancer patients may have abetter prognosis in the presence of greater dendritic cellinfiltration.Keywords: antitumour response, breast cancer, CD1a, dendritic cells, ductal carcinomaAbbreviations: BM, Barrett’s metaplasia; DC, dendritic cell; ER, oestrogen receptor; IDC, invasive ductal carcinoma;LN, lymph node; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; PR, progesterone receptor; RT, reverse transcriptase